Dodging severance top-ups: four dirty tricks employers used on staff

This article is a rewrite of a report from July 2012.

Volatile markets were eating into MPF balances — and some employers turned that into an excuse to squeeze staff. A union uncovered four underhanded tactics, the nastiest being deliberate transfers to remote workplaces to force resignations and dodge MPF severance top-ups.

What were the four tricks?

Trick one: transfer to force resignation. After a cleaning company’s government contract ended, the employer refused to pay severance top-ups and ordered staff moved from Tseung Kwan O to Sheung Shui — effectively forcing them to quit. With 20-odd staff owed HK$7,000–8,000 each in top-ups, union intervention only extracted half the amount as a “lai see” payoff.

Trick two: unpaid rest days, scrapped meal breaks. A survey of over 200 cleaning, security and catering workers found some had rest days switched from paid to unpaid, with hourly wages cut by more than HK$11 at worst.

Trick three: clawing back wages. One contractor hired at HK$32 an hour, then deemed it too dear after the HK$28 minimum wage took effect — and demanded HK$4 an hour back from workers.

Trick four: splitting an 8-hour shift into three. Staff had to report morning, noon and night, stranded near the workplace for hours in between.

What did MPF have to do with it?

Employer MPF contributions could be offset against long service and severance payments. When poor markets shrank MPF returns, employers faced bigger top-ups on dismissal — so some schemed to avoid paying at all.

What did the union demand?

Splitting the standard contract’s six work zones into eighteen. The six zones were so broad that “same-zone” transfers could mean Tseung Kwan O to Sheung Shui — the loophole the union wanted closed.